284 



SYSTEMA TIC SYNOPSIS. — PA SSERES — OSCINES. 



G. carolinen'sis 



Catbird. ^ 9 



(Of Carolina: Carolus, Charles IX., of France. Figs. 37, 144, 145.) 

 81ate-gray, paler and more grayish-plumbeous below ; crown of head, 

 tail, bill, and feet black. Quills of wing blackish, edged 

 with the body-color. Under tail-coverts rich dark chest- 

 nut or mahogany-color. Length 8.50-9.00; extent 11.00 

 or more ; wing 3.50-3.75 ; tail 4.00 ; bill 0.66 ; tarsus 1 .00- 

 1.10. Young: More sooty above, with little or no dis- 

 tinction of a black cap, and comi3aratively paler below, 

 where the color has a soiled brownish cast. Crissum dull 

 rufous. (Specimens in which the black cap does not come 

 snug to the bill, leaving the forehead gray, are grisifrons 

 of Mayn., B. E. N. Am., pt. 40, p. 710: see Auk, Jan. 

 1897, p. 133.) U. S. and adjoining British Provinces, 

 chiefly Eastern. W. to the Rocky Mts., even to Wash- 

 ington; migratory, but resident in the Southern States, 

 and breeds throughout its range ; nest of sticks, leaves, 

 bark, etc., in bushes; eggs 3-6, oftenest 4-5, 0.95 X 0.70, 

 deep greenish blue, not spotted ; they resemble Robins' 

 eggs, but are smaller and more deeply tinted. An abun- 

 dant and familiar inhabitant of our groves and briery 

 tracts, remarkable for its harsh cry, like the mewing of 

 a cat (whence its name), but also possessed, like all its 

 tribe, of eminent vocal ability. 



HARPORHYN'CHUS. (Gr. apnT], harpe, a sickle; 

 pvyxos, hri/gchos, beak; i. e. bow-billed.) Thrashers. 

 Bill of indeterminate size and shape; in one extreme 

 straight and shorter than head ; in the other exceeding the 

 head" in length and bent like a bow (see figs. 146, 152.) 

 Feet large and strong, indicating terrestrial habits; tarsus 

 strongly scutellate anteriorly, equalling or slightly exceed- 

 ing in length the middle toe with its claw. Wings and 

 tail rounded; latter decidedly longer than^ former. Rictus with well developed bristles. 

 Viewing only extreme shapes of bill, as in H. rufus and H. crissaUs, it would not seem con- 

 sistent with the minute subdivisions which 

 now obtain in ornithology to place all the 

 species in one genus ; but the gradation of 

 form is so gentle that it seems impossible 

 to dismember the group without violence, 

 though two subgenera may be conveniently 

 recognized. Most of our species represent 

 the subgenus Methriopierus, which contains 

 the common Thrasher, Harporhijnehus 

 proper being restricted to the three species 

 which have the most arcuate bills. Arcu- 

 ation of the bill proceeds pari passu with its elongation, the shortest bills being the straight- 

 est, and conversely; very young birds of the most bow-billed species are straight-billod. 

 There is also a curious correlation of color with shape of bill; the short-billed species being 

 the most richly colored and heavily spotted, while the bow-billed ones are very plain, some- 

 times with no spots whatever on the under parts. Our 11 forms of the genus are with one 

 exception Southwestern, focusing in Arizona. 



Fig. 144. — Catbird. 



Fig. 145 —Catbird, nat. size. (Ad. nat. del, 



